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| Semester | fall semester 2020 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Till Förster (till.foerster@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | During colonial times, Central Africa was closely associated with the vast region of the Congo basin, covered by apparently impenetrable, "virgin" rain forest. Moreover, Central Africa was Josef Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" - that part of the continent which seemed to be least touched by Western civilisation and culture, and at the same time the region where modernity developed into its most violent variety. However, it was also a region where André Gide compared the squares of the towns to the Piazza Navona in Rome. The subject of this regional course is present-day Central Africa. The first part is dedicated to the natural habitat and the history of ethnographic writing on this part of the continent. The course then addresses general questions of social organisation. The main issue here are some general problems and questions that arose during the ethnographic encounter with central African societies. The second part of the course covers the ethnographic work on particular central African societies. It starts in Western Cameroon, then goes through southern Chad and the Central African Republic, the great lake region in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi, the central Congo basin, the lower Guinea coast with Gabon, and ends in northern Angola and Zambia. |
| Learning objectives | Knowledge of current ethnographic debates on Central Africa. |
| Bibliography | - Grinker, Richard / Steiner, Christopher (eds.), Perspectives on Africa. Oxford: Blackwell, 1997. - Vansina, Jan, Paths in the Rainforests. London: Currey, 1990. A script, including bibliographies, will be accessible on ADAM. |
| Comments | Teaching and communication in the course will be in English, but you may also ask questions in German or French. They will be translated into English, and the answers will also be in English. |
| Admission requirements | General prerequisites: A knowledge of basic social science is required. Particular prerequisites in Social Anthropology: none. In African Studies: none. |
| Course application | Keine Anmeldung erforderlich. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, optional |
| Course auditors welcome |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|
No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul: Areas: Afrika (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Modul: Basics: Social Anthropology (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul: Einführung in die Ethnographie einer Grossregion (Bachelor's degree subject: Anthropology) Modul: Fachkompetenz Globaler Wandel (Master's degree subject: Geography) Modul: Profil: Geschichte Afrikas (Master's degree program: European History (Start of studies before 01.08.2018)) |
| Assessment format | record of achievement |
| Assessment details | A test based on a multiple choice questionnaire will be written on Thursday, December 17, 2020. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | one repetition, repetition counts |
| Scale | 1-6 0,5 |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Ethnologie |